Boral cuts jobs at Geelong plant

Boral will cut 90 jobs after it decided to switch to importing cement clinker at its Waurn Ponds plant near Geelong, west of Melbourne.

The building products group said it the switch follows a review of operations, aimed at cutting unprofitable operations.

The strong Australian dollar and low shipping costs, along with high energy costs, had made it cheaper to switch to imports, rather than produce cement clinker locally, it said.

It also cited the downturn in building sector activity for the decision.

Clinker production at Waurn Ponds will be suspended from April, 2013, it said, with the prospect of a write-off against the $100 million book value of the asset.

It will continue to mill cement at Waurn Ponds, with the switch meaning that imports will account for around 25-30 per cent of Boral's total requirements.

Earlier this week, Adelaide Brighton paid $US30 million for a 30 per cent stake in a Malaysian cement producer, as it seeks to ramp up its imports of the material, which it has indicated will rise to 2 million tonnes a year in a few years time from around 1.6 million tonnes at present.

Boral said it will seek to redeploy affected employees where possible.

"Not only have we been rigorously re-sizing capacity and divesting or closing under-performing operations, we are also focused on reducing excessive overhead costs and reducing capital expenditure,” Boral managing director Mike Kane said in a statement.